Strange, but I know many people who go to Arizona and spend most of the winter there. They all say they feel safer there than they do in Alberta because there are very few rapes, home invasions or burglaries.

Many snowbirds who have property there obtain a firearm. They go to the police and show that they know how to handle firearms safely, are issued a permit, and buy a pistol and ammo. It can serve as protection, though it is very safe, or simply sport shooting, as ranges are everywhere and easily accessed.

The vast majority of Arizonans are friendly and enjoy the camaraderie and participation of Canadians in their sport shooting activities. Nevada is much the same, with huge training facilities for sport and defensive shooting, as are most states with concealed or open carry.

I have attended gun shows in Panama City, FL. and run across a few Snowbirds. There wasn’t a lot they could buy but they seemed interested in the guns.

A while back I was paid to do a survey of campers in the Gulf Islands National Seashore. I would say at least 90% of the campers in the Winter were Canadians.

They were all with zero exceptions, pleasant to talk to. Also just about every one of them were WWII veterans. Oddly enough, the only person who refused the survey was an employee of the University I was doing the survey for.

7
posted on 04/09/2013 7:41:00 PM PDT
by yarddog
(Truth, Justice, and what was once the American Way.)

Sedona is populated by a lot of aging hippies and all the foolish idiocy (redundancy alert!) that entails. Prescott would be far more hospitable to a FReeper. Cottonwood is worthy of consideration too.

8
posted on 04/09/2013 7:41:37 PM PDT
by Flycatcher
(God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)

We moved to the Phoenix suburbs on the far west edge in December. I plan to buy at the end of the year, as I retire in a year and a half.

I don’t want to be paying for three houses so I am selling the KC house. I find that we like the Phoenix area much more than we expected. We knew we like AZ having been here dozens of times in the last 15 years but not so much in Phoenix. Prices are good right now, come on down.

When we lived in Las Cruces, NM over 40 years ago, we went to Phoenix - once - thought I would die. Showing the NJ nephew around, so not much choice on dates.
Was it 100 degress by 10am? And I thought NM was hot in the summer!
Flagstaff is also the sort of entry and miles from the Grand Canyon from the south, IIRC, if that interests you.
Do I remember pine trees in Flagstaff?

We lived in Scottsdale for 14 years and loved it. We moved out to Maricopa 3 years ago to be closer to our kids/grandchildren, and we’ve been happy here too, although there’s relatively not much to do. Our town has been inundated by Canadian snowbirds, however, as they’ve been buying up many of the homes, lol.

My wife and I have stayed in Flagstaff three times in the last ten years. What people should know about Flagstaff is that it’s about 7000 feet in elevation and, while warmer than Wisconsin where we live, can get pretty cold in the winter.

Many snowbirds who have property there obtain a firearm. They go to the police and show that they know how to handle firearms safely, are issued a permit, and buy a pistol and ammo. It can serve as protection, though it is very safe, or simply sport shooting, as ranges are everywhere and easily accessed.

They shouldn't even need to do that.

Arizona is now a constitutional carry state. My understanding is you can get a permit, for reciprocity purposes while travelling.

26
posted on 04/10/2013 9:20:18 AM PDT
by Lee N. Field
("You keep using that verse, but I do not think it means what you think it means." --I. Montoya)

A lot of people think Arizona is all desert. But much of the top half of the state is heavily forested. And it climbs in elevation towards Flagstaff. The highest peak in Arizona, Mt. Humphrey, is just north of Flagstaff.

I will be quite surprised if you can walk in anywhere and just buy one. They are very scarce due to the new introduction and high demand. The counterman at Cabela’s was amazed that they had one in stock, it had just happened to be the only one they had ever recieved and they had put it in stock the night before and I just happened to be the first to ask them to check their stock.

Its over the edge in the Phoenix valley — they had the LCR 22 Mag but not one box of 22 Mag ammo. I finally found just one box of 50 after checking three other places — I found it at a pistol shop that doesn’t cater to rimfire weapons and they had that lone single small box. I have checked four times at four different stores in the two weeks since I picked this up and have found no more ammo anywhere.

I am not going to the range and shoot up my only box of ammunition for the wife’s revolver. She knows how it works and it is loaded where she can put her hands on it in an instant.

Now when I get her the little sub-compact 380, I hope to get her three range trips at 30 rounds per trip so she stands a chance of hitting something with that small barrel, but the LCR is big enough that I think she can hit center-mass with it.

Aw, it's not that bad. I looked it up, and on the 4th of July the average is >100 F only from Noon to 8PM daily (<90 from 1AM to 9:30AM. Gotta cool off). On average. Which means half the days are a little bit warmer. Half are positively chilly. Brrr! just thinking about it.

June is the hottest month. It usually cools down to about 92 at 5:00 am, just before sunrise. The 110+ temperatures arrive by mid-afternoon. July and August are a few degrees cooler because of the afternoon thunderstorms, but 108 and humid feels a lot worse than 117 and dry. Those are the best months to go away on a long vacation.

Phoenix heat really isn't a big deal as long as the A/C works - except for a few psychotic golfers, most everybody is inside an office or mall in the daytime, anyway. Construction and road maintenance workers have the hardest jobs. And the almost perfect weather we have November through April makes up for it. :)

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